INDOT: Projected revenue through 2040 expected to drop

INDIANAPOLIS — Tuesday, INDOT officials warned lawmakers on the Funding Indiana Roads for a Stronger, Safer Tomorrow (FIRSST) Task Force projected revenue is expected to drop through 2040. The department, which depends on gas tax dollars for much of its operations, cited EV adoption and improved fuel efficiency as the main factors.

”I think we need to figure out an additional revenue stream, or an updated sustainable revenue stream,” State Rep. Jim Pressel (R-House Transportation Chairman) said.

”We need to come up with a solution to increase revenues at the state level and maybe tweak the road funding formula so we can help the locals with their local needs,” State Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) said.

According to the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (through Purdue University), the state will need between $1 billion to $2.5 billion more dollars each year (for the next ten years) to address local road and bridge needs.

”I think you got to go somewhere in the middle,” State Rep. Pressel said.

One topic that led to some tense moments during Tuesday’s meeting revolved around the popular Community Crossings grant program, which many localities statewide have depended on to fund their road/bridge projects. The current cap per INDOT (not statute) is $1.5 million—a cap some feel could be too low for larger communities to fully benefit from.

”I think it can’t be a discussion of locals vs. state, it has to be strategic, systematic, but we also need to pay attention to underfunded communities and the imbalance of the funding formula and how we can fix it,” State Sen. Qaddoura said.

But State Rep. Pressel said because Community Crossings is a matching grant program, some smaller, underfunded communities struggle to save up enough dollars needed.

”Maybe [it] needs to be $10 million for communities of ‘X’ size, and if you’re going to do that, if you’re going to raise that and set up, maybe, three tiers in that, is there an opportunity for the smaller, underfunded counties to actually lower their match?” State Rep. Pressel said.

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